OBERLIN, Ohio – In this college town, most people keep their lawn mowers tuned up by oiling the motor and sharpening the blades. Eddie Miller keeps his in shape with salt licks and shearing scissors.
在美國俄亥俄州歐柏林這個大學城，多數人保養割草機的方法，是給馬達上油，把刀鋒磨利。米勒讓他的「割草機」維持良好狀況，靠的卻是吸引動物舔食的鹽漬地和羊毛剪。

Mr. Miller, 23, is the founder of Heritage Lawn Mowing, which rents out sheep. For a small fee, Mr. Miller, whose official job title is “shepherd,” brings his ovine squad to area homeowners. The sheep spend anywhere from three hours to several days grazing on grass and weeds and dandelions.
23歲的米勒是「傳統割草公司」的創辦人，這家公司做的是出租羊隻的生意。顧客只消花一丁點錢，正式職稱為「牧羊人」的米勒就會把他的綿羊隊帶到當地屋主家。羊群會花上幾個小時到幾天時間，啃那些青草、野草和蒲公英。

The results: the sheep eat free, saving him hundreds of dollars a month in food costs, and his clients get a freshly cut lawn, with none of the carbon emissions of a conventional gas-powered mower.
結果是：羊群免費吃草，省了米勒每月幾百美元的糧草費；米勒的顧客換得一片新割好的草地，卻沒有傳統汽油動力割草機勢必產生的碳排放。

As an uncertain economy and a stagnant hiring climate continue to freeze people out of the traditional job market, a number of entrepreneurs like Mr. Miller are heading back to the land, starting small agricultural businesses. They are discovering that modern homesteading offers more rewarding work, and possibly more security, than entering the white-collar fray.
不安定的經濟和停滯的聘雇趨勢仍然把人們擋在傳統職場之外，使得一些像米勒這樣的創業家回歸土地，創辦小型農藝事業。他們發現，比起進入競爭激烈的白領階層，現代自家農場提供了收穫更大的工作，可能也更有保障。

Mr. Miller, a 2010 graduate of Boston University, started his business last year, when several post-college grant applications fell through and no other job opportunities presented themselves. Customers pay $1 per sheep per day, but Mr. Miller also accepts barter payments, which have so far included karate lessons, jugs of maple syrup and the use of one homeowner’s truck.
米勒去年畢業於波士頓大學，畢業後創辦了自己的事業，當時他申請了幾個研究所獎助學金，但都未成，又沒有其他工作機會出現。他的顧客支付每隻羊每天一美元的費用，但米勒也接受以物易物，截至目前為止，他換到過幾堂空手道課、幾罐楓漿，以及使用某個屋主卡車的權利。

While Heritage Lawn Mowing is not yet profitable, he says he has found a better way of life. “It’s a gateway to that whole rural dream,” he said. “And with the type of recession we’re having, there’s stability in it.”
傳統割草公司現在還未獲利，但米勒說自己找到了更好的生活方式。他說：「這是通往完整鄉村夢想的途徑。在當前這種經濟衰退下，此中自有一股安定。」

In terms of social cachet, agricultural start-ups are a long way from Silicon Valley. But the phenomenon seems to be growing.
就社會名望而言，農業新創公司很難跟矽谷新創公司相提並論。但這種農業新創公司似乎已是愈來愈普遍的現象。

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, a nonprofit that matches willing farmhands with organic farms seeking temporary help. In the last three years, membership in the group’s United States branch has quadrupled.
「有機農場世界機會」是個非營利組織，幫忙媒合有意在農場工作的工人和尋求臨時人力的有機農場。這個組織的美國分部成員人數，三年來已激增為原先的四倍。

Of course, the mainstreaming of farm life has inspired a certain amount of skepticism among those with more agricultural experience.
當然，對那些已有更多農業經驗的人來說，農場生活逐漸成為主流趨勢，讓他們多少有些懷疑。

Jason Stroud, 44, of the Brooklyn section of the New York City, has been raising chickens since he was 19. “It’s simpler than one would think,” he said of modern-day homesteading. “Peasants with zero education were doing this hundreds of years ago.”
44歲的史川德是紐約市布魯克林區人，從19歲起就養雞，他談到現代自家農場時說：「這比大家想的容易。沒受過任何教育的農民幾百年前就在做這種事了。」

After his regular work, restoring high-end antiques, dried up earlier this year, Mr. Stroud began advertising his farm skills to fad-chasing urbanites: for a price, he builds them backyard chicken coops and teach them to care for the birds.
史川德原本從事古董修復工作，今年稍早逐漸做不到生意，之後他開始對追逐時尚的都市人做廣告，宣傳他的農場本事：只要付點費用，他就幫都市人在後院蓋雞舍，還教他們怎麼照管雞。

Mr. Stroud estimates that nearly half of his income now comes from chicken consulting.
史川德估計，現在他的收入幾乎有半數來自養雞諮詢服務。

Mr. Stroud’s wife, Susan Gregory Thomas, 42, began growing food for their family when her freelance writing failed to pay the grocery bills.
史川德的太太，42歲的蘇珊．格瑞格里．湯瑪絲，在她的自由寫作收入不敷購買日常食品雜貨所需之後，開始種植農作物作為自家人的糧食。

The economic downturn, she said, has widened the interest in farming beyond the bio-dilettantes and the merely curious: “It’s not a movement that’s going to go away. This economy has been so devastating to so many people that this idea of doing for one’s self, which is very much an American idea, is taking hold.”
她說，這波經濟衰退已使更多人對務農產生興趣，不再只是業餘的農牧愛好者和僅僅出於好奇的人，她說：「這是一場不會退流行的運動。對許多人來說，經濟現況很慘，這種非常美國式的自食其力概念因此開始扎根。」

But being an agricultural entrepreneur is not without its risks.
不過，作個農業創業家也有風險。

Richard Charles, a Wall Street technology manager, decided to become an urban farmer after he was laid off in 2009. He and a former colleague used their savings to start EcoVeggies, a company that uses aeroponic technology to grow plants without soil. Their plan is to convert abandoned buildings in Newark, New Jersey, into high-tech urban farms that will supply produce to local restaurants and schools.
華爾街科技經理人查理斯在2009年遭到裁員後，決定成為都市農民。他和一個過去的同事用兩人的儲蓄創了家「生態蔬食公司」，以無土種植法種植作物。他們計畫把新澤西州紐瓦克市幾棟廢棄的建物變成高科技都市農場，為地方餐廳和學校供應農產品。

But they have yet to turn a profit, and Mr. Charles said he now works harder, and makes less, than he did on Wall Street. “Entrepreneurship is a great idea, but it’s not for everyone,” he said.
但這個事業還沒賺錢，而且查理斯說，比起他在華爾街時，現在是做得更累，賺得更少。他說：「創業是個好主意，但不是人人都適合。」

But Mr. Miller, for his part, is looking to expand Heritage Lawn Mowing into neighboring towns, and increase the size of his flock of sheep.
然而，就米勒來說，他現在想把傳統割草公司的業務擴大到鄰近城鎮，而且養更多羊。

Highways, he has been thinking, are a good place to start.
他一直在想，高速公路是個起步的好地方。

“There’s so much grass in the median strips,” he said. “You could feed a lot of sheep with those.”
他說：「高速公路的中央分隔帶有那麼多草地，可以養許多羊。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/garden/sheep-lawn-mowers-and-other-go-getters.html

Slideshow: Entrepreneurs Look to Sheep, Chickens and Vegetables
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/11/03/garden/20111003-SHEEP.html

2011-12-06聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 馮克芸譯 原文參見紐時週報七版上